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Flexible forms of labor rapidly gaining ground

By Christina Kopsini

The reduction of employees hired by contract continued in the first quarter of the year, as their number shrank by 11.04 percent from the same period in 2011, according to data published by the Labor Inspectors Squad.

It is also the first time in the statistical records of the Greek labor market that flexible forms such as part-time work or shift work have exceeded 50 percent of the whole of new labor contracts in that period.

The squad?s special secretary, Michalis Halaris, referred on Thursday to the ?instability of the market and its inability until now to filter its potential and make the most of flexible forms based on real needs and not on temporary profit.?

Data point to the fact that the model of five days a week and eight hours per day is rapidly being abandoned in favor of reduced hours, while salary cuts amount to as much as a dramatic 31.36 percent, as recorded in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece.

Almost half of foreign workers (45.9 percent) work without social security, compared with 30.8 percent of Greeks. Another notable phenomenon is the high rate of 64.8 percent of uninsured work in catering enterprises.